Rose
by themagicoakleaf
Summary: The Tenth Doctor left Rose Tyler on the beach of Bad Wolf Bay. Years later, the Eleventh Doctor looks back and misses her terribly. Sadly, he and Rose can never see each other again... but that doesn't stop him. As we know, The Doctor brings trouble wherever he goes, and this is no exception! Set between Angels and Snowmen. Tentoo/Rose and 11/River. Rated T now because of ch12!
1. Chapter 1- Remembering Rose Tyler

The Eleventh Doctor awoke with a heart of lead. He didn't know why, but he just wanted to curl up in a dark corner of the TARDIS and cry. He racked his immense memory, searching for the feeling. Was it... loneliness? True, Amy and Rory had left him months before, but that... just wasn't it. Maybe... Coldness? No, his thermal blankets were Gallifrey-made; they'd never let you get cold. He didn't have a fever, he wasn't sick, he had his beautiful, wonderful, timey- wimey machine... Why was the only thing he wanted a good cry? He threw himself out of bed, wobbling through a head rush, and stumbled down to the TARDIS's main room.

"What is it?! What IS it?!" He yelled at nothing in particular, seizing his hair in his fists. Then an odd look came into his eye. His fists slowly relaxed their grip. "Oh." he breathed quietly. "TARDIS, when are we?" He pressed a series of nearby buttons, and a hologram sprang from a projector.

CURRENT LOCATION: CARDIFF, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOMS, 11:45am, APRIL 12, 2013.

"Oh." The Doctor leaned over the TARDIS control panel, bracing his arms apart for support. "It's her birthday. It's... Rose Tyler's birthday."


	2. Chapter 2- NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNYC, New Earth

**Thanks to everyone who followed and favorited this story! I am so happy that people are reading! **

**Don't worry- I have a lot already written, so there should be a new chapter update almost every day. Keep reading and being Whovian!**

**Okay, so it's Rose's birthday…**

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Suddenly, he realized the cold metal grates were particularly uncomfortable against his bare feet. He sighed, and trudged off to his personal wardrobe room. Glumly, he pulled on his usual favorite outfit- slacks, suspenders, baby blue shirt, tweed jacket, red bowtie, lace-up boots. However, today the ensemble didn't give its usual sense of simple pleasure. Even his supercool bowtie didn't cheer him up. Everything just felt black and white and gray. He just missed her so much. Rose Tyler, Rose Tyler, Rose Tyler, Rose Tyler. He strode back into the TARDIS main room, and stood in front of the control panel.

"Where to go..." he mused. "Rrrrrraxicaricofallipatorius ? No... it's fun to say, but very dangerous. Tons of Slitheen. How about... Barcelona? Haven't been there for a while... Nah, I don't want to go without... Hmm... Well, I guess I could go to..." He scurried in circles, pulling levers, slapping buttons, turning wheels, and flipping switches. Suddenly, the TARDIS landed with a jolt. The Doctor strode to the TARDIS door and cautiously peeked out. He closed the door, leaned his back against it, and sighed.

"New Earth." he murmured to himself, shivering involuntarily due to the memory of his last trip to the planet. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door all the way, stepped out, and locked the door back up. The TARDIS was well hidden in a cave whose mouth was almost completely covered with boulders. Nobody would see it. He decided that, since he'd regenerated since seeing her last, he wouldn't need a disguise. He strode to the entrance of the cave with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders slouched. When he reached it, he carefully peeked out, not wishing to be seen by any wandering tourists. The coast was clear, so he slid through the opening into the bright sunlight. A large expanse of sand led to crashing waves sparkling in the sun. The Doctor hated it with every cell in his body. How could the world be so beautiful when the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen could never even see him again? It was so cruel. He kicked at the sand. The warm breeze ruffled his hair, and he found that the only thing in the world that could make him happy would be to find himself once again in her arms.

However, there was not a soul to be seen anywhere on the long, sandy beach. He sighed, and began to walk towards the distant city.

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**2/24/13**

**So, I guess I've decided that this will be on New Earth, instead of Earth. Can we live with that? Please review; I need to know!**


	3. Chapter 3- A Major Dilemma Arises

**Thanks everyone so much for reading and reviewing! This is my first posted FanFic story, really, and I am like jumping up and down I'm so happy! Thanks to those new allies who have been helping out, and thanks to David Tennant and Matt Smith for existing! Yes, they get that much. **

**I'm really sorry if I disappoint any very strict Whovians; I wrote most of this fic while I was watching season 2, so now I'm pretty much rewriting everything. Continue to check back, and tell me what you think of the edits.**

**The Doctor has landed on a beach in New Earth, which for some reason is near New New York, the city toward which he is walking... **

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About an hour later, he found himself at the edge of the city. Skyscrapers towered high above, people milled around on the sidewalks, and shuttles whizzed through the air above. He smiled sadly. Rose had loved it so much when he'd first brought her here. The thought brought a sudden ache to his hearts, so he tried to push the thought away (unsuccessfully), and slid into the crowd. He had no destination in mind; he just went with the flow. After something like a mile, he finally decided that he'd get something to eat.

"But what to get?" He thought to himself. The answer he thought of brought yet another sad smile to his lips. "Chips."

He realized that, having no money, he'd have to go get some. He walked a while longer and came up on a bank with an outdoor ATM. He walked up, flashed his sonic screwdriver at the touch screen in a few places, and pocketed 100 copper Earth credits, (the equivalent of about $100 or £50) all as if it were normal! As he walked away, he could almost hear Rose telling him not to do that, it wasn't right to take money that wasn't yours. He would have gladly taken any amount of scolding if he could have her back. But he couldn't. It just wasn't possible. He'd left her there on that beach years ago. She had the human version of his tenth self. She'd moved on. She was happy without him now...

He shook himself from his thoughts and grimly walked on until he found a restaurant to his standard; fast food would have good chips. He shuffled in the door and up to the counter.

"How can I help you, sir?" buzzed the mechanical FoodBot.

"Large chip please." he grumbled. The FoodBot popped out a hot box of fried goodness.

"2 credits, please." buzzed the FoodBot. The Doctor popped a few credits in the correct slot. "Thank you. Have a nice day!" chirped the FoodBot.

"Yeah, I seriously doubt it." The Doctor grumble under his breath. He plopped into a window seat, and absentmindedly munched on the greasy fried food as he gazed out the window at people passing by. Unwittingly, he began to see Rose everywhere. That one had her hair, that one was exactly the same height, that one had the same fashion sense, and so on. He noticed, however, that not one of them had her chin. No, he thought, that's rather peculiar to her. Rose Tyler, one-of-a-kind girl. That was her. She was a singular person... That laugh, the courage, the ingenuity, those sparkling eyes... The Doctor suddenly realized the course his thoughts were taking, so emptied his mind once again. He looked down to find that he'd already gone through half the box of chips, and he didn't want any more. He dumped the remnants in a trash receptacle, and almost left, but he realized that he was excruciatingly thirsty. How much salt do they put in those things?! he thought, agitated. Then on second thought... He licked his lips. _One teaspoon per chip._ he calculated. _Bloody ton, it is!_ He went up to the counter, ordered a large bottle of water, paid for it, and chugged the whole thing on his way to the trash can. He tossed it in its proper receptacle and went to leave. However, on his way out of the door, he bumped into someone. Someone with blond hair, hazel eyes, and a peculiar chin.


	4. Chapter 4- Run!

**Hello, everyone!**

**I am incredibly sorry it's been so long! I usually post every day, I know, but I've been watching a LOT of Doctor Who, trying to get a little more insight for you guys, and I have stuff to do! So, you still have to put up with my inaccuracy, because I haven't even finished season 2 (don't judge.) Also, all of this has been previously written before I posted it, so I just copy/pasted it, but now I'm going from scratch! Bad news= going's gonna be a little slower. Good news= I can take suggestions! (Please keep them rated T at most, preferably K+!)**

**So, The Doctor was exiting a fast food place, when he bumped into someone, someone with a peculiar chin... **

* * *

The Eleventh Doctor's face reflexively spasmed with shock for a moment, then he mumbled a quick apology and strode out the door and away as fast as wouldn't attract attention. Rose, naturally, followed. He groaned softly and tried to walk a little faster while remaining inconspicuous. She walked faster as well. Panic rose in The Doctor's chest, and he desperately tried to think of a way to get away before he had to talk to her. Suddenly, a situation presented itself. He vaulted over a low fence and sprinted as fast as he could down an alleyway towards the beach. He didn't stop until he was safe inside the cave where the TARDIS was still parked. He leaned his back against it and tried to catch his breath.

"That was too close!" He panted, overwhelmingly relieved. After one deep breath in and out, he finally had his breathing back to normal. He quietly padded to the mouth of the cave and peeked out... And he saw Rose Tyler walking down the beach! He was seized in a fit of panic. Usually, he could just take the TARDIS elsewhere before someone discovered it, but the cave would amplify the unique whooshing sound that came with liftoff, and Rose would surely recognize it! He grabbed fistfuls of his hair, bared his teeth, and paced back and forth across the sandy cave floor. What to do, what to do?!

"That girl is just impossible to leave behind!" he groaned, terrified. He estimated that, by the distance and her speed, he had less than a minute to react. He couldn't sonic the cave closed from the inside because he'd be sealed in and unable to see if she'd gone or not. He couldn't sonic the cave closed from the outside because then she'd see his sonic screwdriver and he'd be stuck outside with her! He pictured red lights flashing and alarms wailing in his head. He was out of time.


	5. Chapter 5- Geronimo

**Hello! Sorry it's been a while, it was Christmas, and I was busy watching an absurd amount of Doctor Who (about a season a day!) I know this chapter is a little short, but the next chapter is the longest I've ever written! Allons-y!**

**The Doctor is panicking, trying to decide what to do about Rose seeing the TARDIS...**

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"Geronimo..." he sighed nervously. He sealed the cave, trapping himself and the TARDIS inside. Outside, a very confused Rose came to a stop in the spot where she'd seen the strange man with the bowtie run into a cave. She cautiously reached out one finger to touch the seemingly solid rock wall. Her finger met cold, hard rock. Immensely confused by this, she tried using her whole hand. When that didn't work, she felt all along the wall in an area of ten square feet (about 9 square meters) or so. Still, nothing. No sign of the strange man who'd so strangely reacted to the sight of her face. She sat back against the rock to think.

On the other side of the rock, the Doctor inwardly groaned with frustration. She'd sat DIRECTLY in the spot where the gap in the wall used to be! He flashed his sonic screwdriver at the wall where the life scanner's results were strongest. There was her heart... there was her brain. At least she appeared to be healthy, with the exception of the dark circles he'd seen under her eyes. The Doctor frowned worriedly. What was causing her to lose sleep? She better not be worrying about something... He was desperate just to sit and talk with her... but how? He sat on a rock and began to think out a plan.


	6. Chapter 6- Matthew James, sort of

**Okay, here's chapter 6, as promised, my longest chapter yet! Don't expect one any longer than this, I'm not J.K. Rowling. More is to come, but BEWARE OF CHARACTER DEATH! I'm sorry... it's like how the wand chooses the wizard; the author is merely the outlet for the story to write itself. Chocolate helps for sadness over fictional events.**

**The Doctor is sitting in the cave he has just sealed, thinking of a plan, and Rose is sitting outside that cave...**

* * *

Rose had been sitting on the sun-warmed sand for about ten minutes when a voice came from above her.

"You aren't a copper, are you?" a young man called. She looked up to see the man who had run from her, just sitting in the applegrass! She stood and looked up at him.

"No, I ent a copper! Why? Who are you anyway?" She called, irritation in her voice. The strange man hesitated for a moment, smiled at her, and replied, "My name is Matthew James. I'm runnin' from justice!"

"Nice to meet you, Matthew James. Why're you runnin' from the coppers?" Rose replied cheerfully.

"I tricked an ATM outside the bank into giving me 100 whole credits! Already spent some of 'em when I bumped into you, but I panicked... so I ran." There. That was true. "Sorry for my rudeness Miss..." the (rather devious) Doctor trailed off, pretending not to know her name.

"Tyler. Rose Tyler." she replied.

"Nice to meet you, Miss Tyler. Like a hand up?" he called politely. Rose smiled widely.

"Call me Rose, and no, I can get up myself!" she stretched up and got hold of the edge of the grassy bluff. She pulled herself up with surprising ease, and sat on the grass next to the Doctor she didn't recognize.

"You're pretty strong for a girl!" he commented.

"Eh, I've been workin' out." she passed it off nonchalantly. "So, Matthew, why'd you steal 100 credits?"

"Call me Matt." he grinned widely. "I wanted some chips and stuff, and I didn't have any money. I'm not from around here, so I figured I could sneak out before those stupid CopBots caught me."

"Well, that's not right! You probably just took 100 credits from some poor bloke, just to buy chips!" Rose scolded.

"Oh, they make more credits every day. It'll be fine. Anyway, I needed some chips. Just... had a bad case of nostalgia. Then, due to the huge amount of salt they manage to jam into those chips, I needed water." Matt remarked.

"They do put a whole lot of salt in there, don't they? " as Rose laughed just like she used to, the sea breeze ruffled through her hair, and blew it back on her face, and the Doctor was hit by a sudden revelation. He'd decided it long ago, but he'd been... cut off... He suddenly realized that Rose had asked him a question.

"Sorry, what did you say?" he asked. She smiled sadly.

"I said chips are good food for bad nostalgia. I was going to get them for the same reason..." Rose looked down at the applegrass they were sitting in. Matt looked concerned.

"Are you all right? What's wrong?" he asked.

"A few months ago, my... um... boyfriend... died. Today's my birthday, and he would have been so sweet... he always was." she burst into tears, curling into a ball and sobbing into her knees. The Doctor immediately put his arms around her and tried to comfort her.

"Happy birthday." he said quietly.

"Thanks." she sniffled. "It's been really hard. Somehow he caught a new disease while he was at work, and none of the doctors could recognise it to cure it. He used to work at the hospital over there." she pointed to a tall building with a green moon symbol on the side. "He was the best doctor they had."

"What was his name?" The Doctor asked gently.

"John Smith." Rose whispered. The Doctor's hearts seemed to seize up with the news. It is never nice to find out that you've died, even if it was just a sort of clone of your past self.

"What have you been doing since?" he asked quietly, his arms still around her. She rested her chin on his shoulder and gazed across the bay towards New New York.

"Been living alone, really. My parents are busy, my best friend is busy... Nobody has time to sit and watch over a heartbroken girl." she sighed.

"Well... In that case, I think it might be safe to tell you something." The Doctor quietly said into her ear. Neither of them moved an inch, totally content in each other's arms.

"What would that be, Matt?" Rose whispered into his ear. He gave an involuntary shiver; she was so close...

"Actually, it's more like something to show you." he decided. They disengaged and stood, and he led her to a hole in the ground. He glanced at her and jumped in. "Don't worry; it's only about two meters from the hole to the floor down here." he called up. Rose sat with her feet in the hole and slid down. She easily stuck her landing. She felt Matt come up behind her. She could feel the heat coming off of his body.

"I'm gonna cover your eyes, okay?" he checked.

"Okay..." Rose agreed, curiously. For some reason, she trusted the man in the red bowtie, even though she'd just met him, and he'd stolen from a bank. She felt his warm hands gently slide over her closed eyelids. She stood stock-still. He carefully led her over to something, and stopped, his hands still over her eyes.

"First , my name isn't Matthew James. Second, we've met before. Third... this." he gently lifted his hands away. In front of them stood a big blue box- a 1950s Earth British police box. Rose gasped, and stood wide-eyed for a minute, then turned slowly to face the man behind her. She stepped a tiny bit closer. There was now only about a foot between them.

"Doctor?" she breathed incredulously. He smiled widely and winked.

"That's me." he replied, grinning. He was about to say more, to explain his new face, to explain why he'd pretended to be someone else, but Rose stopped him. She threw her arms around him and wrapped him in a practically bonecrushing hug. He threw caution to the wind and hugged her back, breathing in the scent of honey. vanilla, and applegrass. His Rose was back at last.


	7. Chapter 7- John

**Hello! It is I, themagicoakleaf. I've rewritten a lot now that I've caught up in Doctor Who. I was debating whether or not I was going to edit out some parts; people reacted so well to it the first time... If you didn't like the rewrite, let me know. Without further ado, Chapter 7!**

**The Eleventh Doctor has just introduced his new regeneration to Rose, and now they are hugging happily...**

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When they finally parted, they both started laughing softly.

"I can't believe it's you! What are you doing here?" Rose gasped.

"I could ask you the same! I left you on Earth!" the Doctor countered.

"Our Torchwood wanted to spread its reach, so we developed a sort of vortex-manipulator-type-thing; It's like a normal vortex manipulator, but it only goes between two places, our Torchwood One and a field station. John and I got to choose where we were stationed, so we decided to go here, 'cause this was our favorite of my trips in the TARDIS." She smiled sadly. "We go back every month for a meeting. This week, I have to go without him." She sniffled, holding back tears. The Doctor wrapped her in a warm hug, and put his wide chin on top of her head. She took deep, shuddering breaths.

"It's been over two months since he died, and when it happened, there was no warning. I went to visit him in the hospital one day, see if he was doing any better, and he just wasn't there! The nurse who usually watched over him, a friend of mine, told me he was dead. I never saw his body; the hospital insisted that the funeral be closed-casket, in case any of the disease was still in him. Nothing but the clothes he was wearing was buried with him, not even his pet project... He worked so hard on it... Oh, John!" Rose broke down and began to sob, clinging to the Doctor for dear life. He held her tight and let her soak his shirt with tears. His mind wandered...

"Rose," he asked after a moment, "you say you never saw... him?"

"Yeah," she sniffled.

"Do you remember the first time we came here, when we visited the hospital?" he asked.

"With Cassandra... yeah." she answered, making a face as if she wished she'd forgotten.

"Well, I was thinking- they were hiding patients then, who's to say they're not now!" The Doctor deduced excitedly. Rose was THRILLED, jumping up and down.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go investigate!" she cried, grabbing his hand and yanking him toward the cave's exit. He grinned, watching her excitedly climb into the applegrass. He was still grinning as he hoisted himself up after her. This was going to be just like old times.

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**How do you like the new edit, people who read it before? Please let me know!**


	8. Chapter 8- The Hospital

**Hello! My deepest apologies for this taking so long; I've got SO many other things going on. I hope you've learned by now, anyway, that I am not one to publish quickly! I have been thoroughly distracted recently, but I might have a new fanfic up soon. It is called Nightmares and contains as much fluff as I could add without making them act out of character. Anyway, onward towards John Smith, who I actually haven't decided is dead or alive yet.**

**Rose Tyler and the Doctor are walking down the beach towards the hospital which was formerly run by crazy cat-nuns...**

* * *

As the two strode into the brightly lit lobby of the hospital, the Doctor shivered compulsively.

"You still get the shivers from hospitals?" Rose chucked amusedly.

"Hey, last time we were here, there was the traveling consciousness of a stuck-up aristocrat, people infected with every disease in the planet, and evil cat-nuns with claws. I've got plenty reason to shiver!" he defended himself.

"Yeah, good point..." she agreed mock-warily. "I sure hope we don't run into any of that this time..." The Doctor abruptly brought them back to focus.

"Okay, so, I need you to take me to where he used to be, the room he stayed in when he was sick." he ordered. Rose's heart sank, and she led him off in the direction of the stairs.

"You bother me about hospitals, but you still won't go in the lifts!" he teased gently.

"That disinfection thing was like being stuck in a dishwasher!" Rose complained. "That was NOT fair; there was absolutely no warning!" the Doctor chuckled amusedly. Suddenly, outside a room, Rose stopped grimly. "We're here." she whispered, clearly pained by the memories of the place. They stepped through the door into a typical 51st century hospital room, pretty much identical to the one they had visited the Face of Boe in. Rose led the Doctor to an empty bed in the back of the room. Both immediately forgot the possibility that John Smith could still be alive. It had begun to rain outside, and the pattern of the raindrops on the window was cast onto the crisp, white sheets. It was the very picture of sadness, and Rose was obviously holding back tears. The Doctor gently took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She looked up at him sadly, then back to the empty bed.

"It was only five years that you were gone. He died when he was five years old." she breathed, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "Five years old."

"Technically, that would make him about nine hundred'n ten. Pretty good for a human." The Doctor mumbled sadly, looking down. The two stood there quietly for a moment. "Right, then!" piped the Doctor, breaking them out of their grief-stricken silence. "Scanning for traces…" he pulled out his sonic and began waving it over the bed and general area otherwise. Rose frowned.

"What happened to your sonic screwdriver?" she asked. He continued scanning and did not look up.

"Long story... Ooh, I've got something! Geronimo!" he cried gleefully, running off after some invisible wavelength before she could ask him to clarify. Rose just grinned at his immaturity, and ran to catch up.


	9. Chapter 9- The Little Blue Box

**I am INCREDIBLY sorry for the wait, guys! It's just that I've been under major stress from school recently, and I just didn't have time! Also, I realized that I never said: Doctor Who isn't mine! Duh! If it was, Steven Moffat would be unemployed and Rose would know the Doctor's name, if you know what I mean! Okay, warning: MAJOR feels here, guys!**

**Eleven and Rose are following a signal on the sonic screwdriver, a signal from some trace of Dr. John Smith...**

* * *

A few minutes later, they found themselves in the Office for Family of the Dead. Rose faltered, her stomach squeezing painfully and her eyes glistening with unshed tears. The Doctor took her hand and gave it a sympathetic squeeze. She sighed in reluctant preparation.

"Okay. I'm going to go get his things. Maybe there's a clue there. Stay here," she ordered softly, releasing his hand. He touched her shoulder to get her attention.

"Rose, are you sure you're okay doing this?" he asked gently. She sighed and nodded, starting towards the desk. The Doctor watched as she addressed the ClerkBot.

"Rose Tyler for John Smith." she told it.

"Relation to patient?" the ClerkBot hummed sweetly. It was programmed for being gentle on mourners, so it had a most soothing voice and a relatively motherly figure. Rose hesitated, not knowing what to say. She didn't feel like she could describe their relationship as any of the list of categories. He was sort of…. the human metacrisis clone of her Time Lord friend…? Actually, she didn't even know how to describe her relationship to the Doctor either.

"Um… Girlfriend." she finally answered, tears starting in her eyes. The ClerkBot disappeared into the storeroom and came back with a white box.

"Here are all items left behind by Dr. John Smith. Condolences," it hummed, handing Rose the box and moving on. She shuffled over to a table in the corner, where The Doctor joined her, sitting quietly across from her. She took a deep breath and opened the box, which was about the size of a shoebox. Rose whimpered softly. Inside was a pair of maroon Converse, John's favorite. She slowly reached out a finger and stroked one of the well-loved shoes. Tears welled up in her eyes, but did not yet fall. The Doctor saw her slowly breaking. He knew she couldn't take much more of this sorrow, but he sat quietly, waiting for her to be done. Then, Rose lifted from the box a smaller, wooden box, carefully carved and painted to be a tiny TARDIS. Gently, she opened the lid, which was on a hinge, just wide enough to remove a tightly-folded piece of paper. She shut the lid and gently unfolded the paper. The Doctor recognized his previous incarnation's messy scrawl, and decided it must have been John's handwriting as well. Rose began to read the letter, gingerly touching the writing as if she could feel his hand scratching out the words. It read:

_My Dearest Rose,_

_If you are reading this, it means they finally took me, so you won't ever see me again. Don't look for me; I could never live with myself if they hurt you. Don't mourn me either. Just do what I would do; run. Run for the stars and never look back to the way things used to be. Give my love to Jackie, Pete, and Tony. Don't save any for me._

_I know that we were… having trouble recently, but I want you to know that, whether you still love me though I'm not really him, I meant what I said on that beach five years ago. I love you, Rose Tyler, and I have ever since you started traveling with… well, The Doctor, whether that's me or not. That's why I still want you to have this. I was going to give it to you, but then we started fighting and it just wasn't a good time, so I was scared you'd reject it. I want you to have it now, so you know that no matter what, dead or alive, Doctor or not, I love you Rose Tyler._

_Love,_

_John_

_PS. You were fantastic, and know what? So was I!_

Tears were streaming down Rose's cheeks as she shakily reached for the TARDIS-box. She opened it and burst into tears, unable to resist the sobs she'd been fighting. As The Doctor jumped up and wrapped his grief-stricken friend in a hug, he couldn't help but notice that the little blue box contained a perfect, glittering ring.


	10. Chapter 10- Words Said and Never Said

**Look at me go! Ten chapters! Molto bene if I do say so myself! ;)**

**Anyway, I am sorry (so sorry) for taking so long on this chapter. I've been writing four or five different stories now, and they all have very persistant followers! Also, a question was posed to me: If River never existed, how did the Doctor survive the Library? Answer: River summoned him to the Library in the first place, ergo he never went! Although... I think River does exist, because otherwise this story would fall apart. See, I need to... wait... SPOILERS! I will say nothing! Sit back and enjoy the show, my faithful readers!**

**Rose is sobbing over a pair of Converse and a little blue box, quite rightly considering her dead boyfriend just admitted he was going to propose... **

* * *

About five minutes and a lot of hugging and crying later, they decided to go back out to the balcony so Rose could get some fresh air. The Doctor had managed to procure a plastic cone of water from somewhere, and she sat curled into a ball on a bench, meekly sipping her water and gazing out at the frothy waves crashing on the white sand. He stood, leaning on the railing with his eyes alternating between the rolling tide and his grief-stricken friend. She had the black box containing John's shoes and the little blue box hugged to her chest. The Doctor had just turned away from her again when she spoke, the wind ruffling her hair and giving her a distant look.

"I know you saw what he wrote, and I know what you're wondering. We _had_ been having a bit of trouble recently, got into some of the worst fights we ever had. Oh, who'm I kidding? They **were** the worst fights we ever got into. We always had our tough spots, especially when people talked about the Doctor and didn't mean him. That's why I never called him Doctor; he was always John. He was my John." She looked down and sniffled. "One night after he'd lost a few patients to some new disease, he came home to the little house the two of us used to share, just outside of the city, and he was miserable. I was trying to comfort him, and I said something about how, even though the Doctor was so good at saving people, sometimes people die. He got really angry, and we started yelling at each other, and there were tears; **the** worst fight we ever had. After about an hour of arguing, he finally had it. He said 'Fine! I get it! You love the Doctor and I'm not him! He didn't want me around; obviously neither do you!"' By this point, Rose's voice had sunk to a whisper and tears streamed down her cheeks, but the Doctor felt that, given the topic of current discussion, now would not be a good time to hug her. She sniffled and continued. "He left the house and spent the night in his workroom. He'd been out there late before, tinkering with his little projects, but he was always there in the morning. The morning after that fight, I woke up to find a note, but no John. It said: 'Gone off to work early.' No apology, no 'good morning', not even a goodbye. See, that night was the last time I ever saw him really alive. That day, I was at work, our Torchwood, and I got a call that he'd collapsed all of a sudden. I got over as quick as I could, but he was unconscious when I got there. A friend of mine, one of the nurses, told me that he'd just sorta keeled over, and no-one'd been able to wake him. I visited him every day, but I never caught him awake, and every day he was worse. Everyone went to see him: Dad, Jake, even Mum and Tony. He didn't get better. After about three days, he fell into a coma. None of the doctors could even tell what was wrong with him; symptoms didn't match with anything. Three days after that, when I came, he'd had a critical change; his heart almost gave out. There were so many doctors and nurses rushing about, I just wanted to go home. All I wanted was to go home and find him sitting on the couch. Got home, he wasn't there. The next day, I went in to see him, he wasn't there, I found out he was dead. I already told you most of this part: his funeral was closed casket, so I never saw him again. Months passed, and all I could think was that he died thinking I didn't love him. I did though. Only a year or two after you left us on Bad Wolf Bay, I realized 'he's my Doctor now,' and I loved him with everything I had, all my heart and soul. Now he's dead, and he died thinking I wished he was someone else!" Rose entirely broke down at that point, sobbing with the pain that no-one should have to bear. The Doctor sat next to her and, wrapping her tightly in a hug, let her soak his jacket again with her tears. He let her cry for a few minutes, and when she finally stopped, mascara smudged and head spinning, he reassured her gently.

"Rose, he loved you and he knew you loved him. Otherwise he wouldn't have left you that ring," he pointed out. Rose took the little blue box from inside the black box and opened it, studying the ring. After a moment, she took it out, slid the ring onto her finger where it belonged, and put the little wooden box back in with John's old shoes. The Doctor smiled approvingly. "Tell you what, let's take you home, and we'll continue investigating tomorrow. You, Rose Tyler, need a cup of tea." With that, they left the hospital and went back to Rose's little house near the edge of the city. Bidding her a good night and sweet dreams, in addition to a promise that he'd be there first thing in the morning, the Doctor set off back to his TARDIS.


	11. Chapter 11- A Long-Avoided Conversation

**Why hello!**

**I promised, didn't I? Here you go, chapter 11! It was very hard to write, so please review! I will work on more; another chapter on Friday?**

**After a rather stressful visit to the hospital, the Eleventh Doctor left Rose Tyler at her house by the sea so she could rest up for their mission and the big day ahead...**

* * *

At precisely 8:00am the next morning, there was a knock at Rose Tyler's front door. Already dressed and ready to go, she opened the door to see a grinning Doctor wearing… a fez? She said nothing, but raised an eyebrow at the unusual accessory. He sighed in annoyance.

"I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool," he tried to explain. After another moment of her disapproving expression, he unhappily removed his incredibly cool bright red fez and stuck it in his transdimensional pocket. Rose nodded with mock severity and moved to step out the door. "Actually," he stopped her, "I'd like to talk a bit first." She nodded and gestured inside.

"Come on in and sit," she invited him. After they were comfortably seated in the sitting room (where else would one sit?) the Doctor began.

"I... I just wanted to catch up a bit, exchange stories really," he clarified, obviously uncomfortable, fidgeting like mad. "I'm not really good at… normal conversations apparently… So, if there's anything you want to know, I wanted to just give you a chance to ask." He held out his hands as if to say 'hit me with your best shot.' Rose thought for a moment.

"Okay, um… what's the companion situation? Where's Donna?" she asked, confused when he flinched in pain.

"Such a long time ago… Well, it's not that complicated. She had a human body and a Time Lord consciousness. After I left you and John, her brain started failing. I suppose it's a bit like what happened with you and Bad Wolf. I had to wipe her memory and leave her with her mum and granddad."

"Doctor, I'm sorry-"

"Don't be. It's not your fault. Anyway, after Donna, a bit of a problem with the Master, and a regeneration-"

"Wait, who's the Master? Did he kill you?!"

"No! Well, it wasn't… well, it sort of _was _his fault, but he didn't directly kill me. Er… I don't think he meant to… He was another Time Lord, and not a terribly good one. I'll get to him. Anyway, I regenerated, and then crashed in a little girl's backyard. That little girl was… Amelia Pond." He sighed miserably. "I went to take the TARDIS for a test run and messed up the coordinates. I accidentally left for fifteen years."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I came back in what was only a few minutes for me, then we saved the world again, and I went into the TARDIS and accidentally left for another two years. Then I came back again and she started travelling with me. After a while, we ended up back in her time because it turned out that her wedding was the next morning… So then… bad things happened, and I almost tore them apart, but I took the two of them, Amy and her fiancé Rory Williams, travelling for a while. They made up and all that… So, it's a long story. I knew her for pretty much her entire life. I left them with their own life in their own time for a while, but then I got lonely and took them back, so… yeah… and then I was dead-"

"WHAT?!"

"Long story. I was dead, and then I wasn't, it's really very complicated…"

"Sounds like it. So… are they…?" she was afraid to ask.

"Not dead. Well… Do you know about Weeping Angels?"

"Oh no, that's awful! John told me about them! Wait, but… can't you just go get them?"

"No. There was a huge mass of Angels hopping all over. They messed Time up so badly that the TARDIS won't land at those coordinates ever again. See, Rory was touched by an Angel, and Amy knew we couldn't go back for him. She didn't want to live her life apart from him, so she let the Angel touch her and she went back to him. They'll live the rest of their lives together, but I can never see them again. That was six months ago. I've done close to nothing since then." He sighed, tears welling in his eyes. Rose wrapped him in a hug.

"Doctor, I'm so, so sorry." she mumbled into his jacket.

"It's okay," he contradicted her. "I've got River."

"Who's River?" Rose asked, releasing the Doctor, who was now blushing.

"Professor River Song. Given name, Melody Pond. She's Amy and Rory's daughter. She's also sort of… not exactly… my, um… wife." he admitted, wincing and expecting the worst. He was quite surprised to receive quite the opposite. Rose squeaked in delight and hugged him again, tighter.

"Oh, congratulations Doctor! Finally doing the domestics, are we?" She asked fondly.

"Well, not really. Also, she doesn't actually know my name, so she's not technically… not yet, anyway…" he clarified. Rose's eyes widened.

"So you're going to actually-?" she squeaked excitedly.

"Well, sometime… yes. Planning on actually, officially marrying her at some point… But… long story. Any more questions before we go find yours?"

"Good luck with that! Actually… I do have one question."

"Okay?"

"What made you regenerate?"

"Oh. That. Well… the thing itself that got me was a massive amount of radiation. See, there was this safe-thing, a glass… well it was nitroplex polycarbonate archi-"

"Doctor, you know I don't understand that."

"Sorry. Anyway, glass box, two compartments, a door in each. If one person goes in one side, he can't get out until another person goes in the other side. Door's deadlocked: no way out."

"Or they get blasted with radiation?"

"No… that was a bit of a malfunction… Quite a malfunction it was. The Master actually yanked the Time Lords and Gallifrey out of time and space and into his present time, 2010, on Earth. Long story short, I detonated a warp star and it blew up the transmitter so everything went back to its proper place… but Donna's granddad, Wilfred, he got trapped in one side of the box. The explosion set off the molecular energy matrix. There was a lot of pent-up radiation leaking into the circuits; even the sonic screwdriver would set it off. I could let him out, but then I'd be locked in and the chamber would be flooded with radiation. One of us was going to have to die. The worst part… the worst part is, I almost let that be him," the Doctor admitted miserably.

"Doctor, that's not like you!" Rose gasped.

"I know," he replied ashamedly. "I was desperate. I didn't want to die. It was said that 'he would knock four times' and my time would come. I didn't know who 'he' was, until I was lying there after the explosion celebrating survival, and… Wilfred knocked on the glass… four times," he sighed, unable to meet her eyes.

"Oh no… that's awful…" The blonde woman's eyes widened.

"I couldn't help but think that he was just an old man, a worthless old man who'd lived a decently long life and wasn't of any use to the universe. I was angry that the situation had to be so unfair, but then I realized how I sounded… and I knew it had to be me."

"Wise until the end, you are."

"Yup. That's me."

"Was it… over quickly?" Rose asked concernedly, receiving a groan in reply.

"Not at all. Easily the most painful regeneration I've ever had."

"No surprise. That much radiation…"

"It wasn't the radiation."

"What?"

"The radiation wasn't the part that really hurt. Well, not that it didn't, it was one of the most painful things I've ever felt, but it wasn't what made it my most painful regeneration, I mean. I survived the radiation… sort of."

"What do you mean, sort of?"

"The radiation didn't kill me all the way, but I was dying. The part that hurt, that _really_ hurt, was when I decided to do a little Farewell Tour thing. I just wanted to see everyone one last time, and I did. I saw Martha and Mickey, who are married now, by the way. I saw Sarah Jane and Luke, I saw Jack, I saw Donna, Wilfred, Sylvia… Those all hurt, but the last one hurt the most."

"Who?" Rose asked, wondering who could hurt him so much, considering that she'd been locked away in a parallel dimension.

"January 1st, 2005. Earth. She was walking with her mother, sending her off to see some new man. Hardly a surprise. She was heading back home alone when she heard a noise from a shadow, like someone in pain. She asked the man in the shadows if he'd had a bit too much to drink. He said he'd done something like that. She told him to go home, and he said he would. As she was starting to run back home, he called after her. He asked what year it was. She asked how much he'd had, but she told him, 2005. He told her it would be a good year for her. She smiled and ran back home. The unknown man shed a few tears before stumbling back into his TARDIS and regenerating." The Doctor smiled sadly.

"That was you?" she gasped, grinning her unique grin. "I always wondered who it could have been, 'cause that was the year I met you the first time, and I always thought 'hey, that guy was right.'"

"I said it would be a good year, didn't I? But listen, Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"There's a reason I'm telling you about all this. It's not like I love talking about it. I wanted to tell you about how you were the last face that face saw because I wanted you to know that, him being nearly the same person, John loves you dearly, no matter how it seems."

"Oh… Thanks, Doctor. I think… I think I really needed to hear that."

"I know the feeling. So, let's go get him?"

"Yeah… Just… one minute." Rose hopped up from her chair and ran up the stairs. A minute or so later, she was back. Her Time Lord friend raised an eyebrow, and she showed him her right hand, which now carried a beautiful ring. It was the ring from the little wooden TARDIS box. She sighed, gazing into the sparkling crystal.

"If we find him… _when _we find him, I want him to see I'm wearing it," she explained determinedly.

"Brilliant idea. He'll love that, Rose," The Doctor commented, eliciting a genuine Rose Tyler smile. She led the way out of the house and locked the door behind them, and they set off toward the hospital once again.

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**Hello fez! I said there'd be a cameo from an old friend! Please review! ;)**


	12. Chapter 12- The Glow Down Below

**Well... hello there. I'm sorry. I stink. As consolation, I shall tell you that I am halfway through the next chapter already. Because I am evil enough to make Steven Moffat sad, I tell you that I will not post another chapter until I get an acceptable amount of reviews. Or... because I've been on the receiving end of too many cliffies, on next Monday. You can wait the week, or review quickly. Your choice. (I will not do this blackmail-y thing often!)**

**After a long, tedious, awkward conversation, the Eleventh Doctor and Rose Tyler are headed to the Hospital, to see if they just can't find one Dr. John Smith...**

* * *

As they stepped through the doors and into the lobby of the hospital for the second time in two days, Rose stood strong and determined. John _was _alive. They _would _find him. She wasn't going to let him go again.

The Doctor walked next to her, above all apprehensive. He was nervous about in what circumstance they might find John. There was no clue what they were up against, and he could very well be dead. The problem was…. if John were dead, the Doctor knew he couldn't leave Rose alone. Not again.

_John, old chap, you'd better come through for me just this once… _he thought determinedly.

. . . .

A few minutes later, they were running off down a hallway, chasing a signal on the sonic screwdriver. The wonderful joy of the old times surrounded them, but it was tainted with fear and worry. The usual gleeful grins were replaced by expressions of total seriousness.

"Isn't that odd," the Doctor mused to himself as they slowed near the end of a hall.

"What's odd?" Rose prodded curiously.

"We're coming up on a room we've been in before, a long time ago," he murmured, stepping through the door marked "Ward 26." It had barely changed since that last awkward misadventure. The only difference was that it was completely abandoned, the lights only switching on when motion detectors sensed them. Only one light was already on: the one in front of a familiar computer terminal.

"To intensive care?" Rose guessed correctly.

"Indeed. Let's go, then." The Doctor activated the installation protocol, and the door slid open too smoothly for something that shouldn't have been in use for decades. Shrugging it off, the two stepped through and let the panel slide shut behind them. The only problem there was that it blocked all of the light, and they now stood in pitch blackness. Suddenly, the darkness was pierced by a beam of light from a pocket torch Rose had procured from her deep pockets. She handed another to the Doctor, who clicked it on gratefully.

"We'd better keep the talking to a minimum," he advised, "or whoever left that light on might hear us." Rose nodded, and they set off silently into the secret ward. Both of them were very skillful when it came to sneaking, so they made barely the tiniest of sounds as they crept down the hall and into the enormous laboratory. They tiptoed past dozens of glowing, green capsules, but they were all empty; no sign of John was to be seen. After they'd explored an entire floor with no result, the Doctor silently motioned to Rose, and they got down on their hands and knees to peek over the edge of the platform. At the very bottom, they could make out a faint light, glowing a brighter, clearer, eerie green. It stood out against the very faint glow from the inactive capsules, a beacon pointing them to answers.

"The Glow Down Below," the Doctor dubbed the unusual luminescence, his face stretching into a goofy grin.

"Fancy a look at it?" Rose suggested. The Doctor grinned and stood, pulling her up with him.

"Geronimo!" he whispered excitedly, silently scampering to the stairs and whirling down an entire flight before she could blink. Still, she was barely a step behind him the whole time.

When they reached the final bottom floor, they immediately took to the shadows. The strange green light emanated from a short hallway, only about twenty feet (six meters) long. From their hidden positions, the two investigators could make out the sound of humanoid speech, but they were not close enough to identify a voice or make out individual words. This simply wouldn't do, so they edged closer, still not making even the tiniest of sounds. At the end of the short passage, they found a spacious amphitheater, the sort that one might give a medical demonstration in, given the fact that they were in a hospital. They were at the level of the bottom row of seats, with the stage sunk down below the point they could see…. but they could actually _smell _the blood, such was its quantity. It made Rose's stomach flip-flop nauseatingly. A shared feeling of absolute terror passed between the two, but they mustered their courage and carefully peeked over the edge of the drop.** Below them on the stage, a heartbreakingly familiar man was strapped to a table, bloody lacerations showing though tears in his white hospital pajamas. Standing over him was a strange figure with his back to Rose and the Doctor. It seemed to be a human, a young male no more than twenty years of age. He wore a worn and torn uniform in the style of the early 1900s, and had shaggy black hair that would have matched the style of his clothes if it were a bit shorter and neater. He stood ramrod straight, brandishing a surgical tool alike a scalpel in his right hand. He waved said tool under John's nose malevolently.**

**"Come now, John Smith." He crooned evilly. "Tell me where you've put it."**

**"I've told you," John hissed. "that I haven't got one! I. Am. Human!"**

**"John Smith, sir, I know you're hiding something sir. TELL ME WHERE IT IS SIR!" the young man roared, greatly displeased.**

**" I've TOLD you, I'm NOT the Doctor! I'm a biological metacrisis!" John insisted desperately. The Doctor's hearts sunk as he realized that John's predicament was all his fault.**

**" And I've told you that there's no such thing! Don't make me force anything out of you again!" the horrifically familiar malefactor threatened. He raised the sharp tool... and stopped at the sound of a gasp behind him. His arm froze halfway to its destination. The Doctor gave Rose a disbelieving look as she clapped her hands over her mouth. Below them, the devilish young man began to turn towards them. Immediately, the Time Lord grabbed his friend's wrist and yanked her up to her feet and down the hallway at a run. They were up at thetop of the stairs by the time he let her go.**

**"I'm sorry, Doctor, I-"**

**"No, no it doesn't matter, but did he see you?!"**

**"I don't know, he-"**

**"_But did he see you?!"_ **

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**There's that spoiler (the bold bit.) I'm pretty sure that you can discern the villain from that! Still no promises about John's safety! Update coming Tuesday because I'm lazy!**


	13. Chapter 13- Calling in the Troops

**THERE ARE NO WORDS TO EXPRESS HOW SORRY I AM!**

**Anyway, this story is about to get logged into Camp NaNoWriMo, so there should be a chapter at least evry week! I promise! My angry beta reader will make sure of that!**

**Have I ever mentioned how much I love you guys? CUZ I DO! Thank you all for sticking with me through everything, and I think we can finish this fic real soon! (Don't worry; if even one person asks for more, MORE WILL COME!)**

**Thanks again, and sorry for the gore in the last chapter! There might be a teeny tiny itty bit more, but it won't be as bad and I'll warn you!**

**Without further ado, _the longest chapter yet!_**

**When last I left you all, Eleven and Rose ran from a horrifying scene in "Intensive Care" of the NNY Hospital. As they ran, he shouted.**

_**"But did he see you?!"**_

* * *

At Rose' assurance that there was no way that the twisted villain could have seen her face, the Doctor led the way back up and out to the beach at a run. They stopped on top of the bluff, near a deep hole: the entrance to the cavern where the TARDIS was parked.

"Now Rose, I'm… well, if you want, _we're _going to go into the TARDIS so I can call in some backup. Just… you should know that the Old Girl isn't what she used to be. She's… changed. If you don't want to come, I could be back in just a second…" he offered nervously. Rose frowned and shook her head firmly.

"I'm coming. I don't think I could bear to watch her fade away again, even if I know she's coming back. Anyway, even if she's a bit different like you say, she's still the same TARDIS!"

"That solves it, then!" the Time Lord announced, grinning widely. "Rose Tyler, back in the TARDIS once again!" With that, he jumped down into the hole, his human companion following right behind. In front of the big blue doors that he always opened the wrong way, he hesitated.

"Are you ready, Rose Tyler?" he whispered excitedly.

"You bet!" she whispered back, almost jumping up and down in anticipation. Grinning, the madman unlocked his box and darted inside, running a circle around the console and coming back to stand in front of her. She was transfixed about a meter inside the doors, staring in shock at the harsh metal walls and unfriendly-looking lights with an expression of utter disappointment and sadness. The warm, coral-y interior had been replaced with cold metal, there was only a single-seat captain's chair, and the console room was roughly ten degrees cooler and a quite a bit darker than she remembered. The whole thing just felt… sad.

"She's asleep," the Doctor remarked upon seeing her expression. "The membrane between dimensions is all weird here. _This _New Earth exists for both of your realities. This planet is like a gateway between worlds, except people usually don't cross over because it would take a _massive _amount of power," he explained.

"So that'd be, what, half of the TARDIS's power, then?"

"57.89275642 percent, actually."

"Oh, all right then, Mr. Smartypants."

"Mr. Smartypants?!"

"Yeah, I'm never saying that again."

"Anyway," the Doctor changed the subject, "she should be pretty much fueled up now, because of the massive rift here…." He pressed a few buttons, but got no more than a groan like that of a teenager being awoken at 5am. "Come on Old Girl!" he shouted at the ceiling. "We've got company." Another groan. Rose stepped forward and softly placed a hand on the console.

_Hello, Old Girl, _she whispered, lips motionless. The Doctor's (rather minimal) eyebrows shot up as the ship instantly woke up. Rose did not notice his expression before the ship gave a jolt that sent them crashing to the floor.

_WOLF! _ the ship cried exultantly. _MY WOLF! _ The floor beneath their feet rumbled with the sentient ship's sheer joy. Rose sighed in extreme relief as the space in her head reserved for telepathic communication (which was usually empty, unless her Torchwood made contact with telepathic aliens) was filled by the ship's consciousness. It rubbed up against her mind much like a purring cat, warm and loving. She felt their mutual bliss run through her bones, laughing lightly at the feeling and gripping the edge of the console for support. When the ship's overwhelming joy relaxed to a blissful hum, Rose noticed the Doctor standing off to the side with a strange expression on his face; his lips bent into a small smile, and his thin eyebrows raised as if to say "huh, look at that."

"You're telepathic," he stated simply. She nodded seriously.

"Ever since the Gamestation."

"You remember that?!" The sweat on the Doctor's brow was practically visible, such was his alarm. _She can't remember that! _he worried inwardly. She could only remember that if she had a remnant of the Heart in her, and her head would burn if she did! Well, and then she'd be asking questions about where the energy went. He couldn't help but blush at that particular memory.

"No," Rose admitted, calming his nerves, "but that was the problem. All I can remember is that I was in the TARDIS alone, back in London, and then there was this weird… light, and then I guess I blacked out, 'cause next thing I can remember, I was in the TARDIS. Then you… exploded, and…" she gestured vaguely with her hand. He ran a hand through his hair, sighing sadly. He looked up in surprise when she let slip a little giggle. "You still do that," she explained. "The messing-with-your hair bit."

"Yes, I suppose I do…" he mused. Then, he abruptly changed moods, becoming far more energetic. "I tried to do the crazy spikey do like the last me, but this hair… is all… floppy!" He lifted a chunk of his hair and let it drop to demonstrate his point. "See the… flop?" Rose smiled her tongue-twixt-teeth smile, trying desperately to hide how much she wanted to reach up and run her fingers through the lightish brown hair, to help it "defy gravity" like she used to. But, that simply wouldn't do anymore. She had John and he had River. Pushing the thought away, she changed the subject.

"So, what happened to _my _TARDIS?" she asked, gesturing to the walls of dark grey metal. The Doctor turned to look into the console's central column, stroking the control panel lovingly.

"Well, I lost some friends… Their TARDIS reminded me of them, so I changed it." He shrugged, feigning nonchalance.

"Oh… I'm sorry," Rose apologized quietly. She knew what it was to lose someone very important.

"Don't be," the centuries-old Time Lord sighed. "Anyway, that wasn't, technically speaking,_ your _TARDIS, the one you knew. That one sort of regenerated with me."

"How do you mean?"

"Well… I crashed her."

"Of course."

"Of _course?! _I can fly _my _TARDIS just fine, thank you! For example, I could revert control to your old console room, and we could fly her from there!"

"Oh yes please!" Rose jumped up and down like a child offered a trip to Disneyworld.

"Follow me, then!" the Doctor ordered cheerfully. Instinctively, he grabbed her hand, pulling her along behind him in a mad dash through the winding, bending halls of the TARDIS. Eventually, they ended up in front of a large metal door with no handle, knob, lock, or keypad.

"How do you get in?" Rose asked, eyes wide with curiosity. She watched with awed interest as the TARDIS' resident madman closed his eyes, waiting for a code or key or even maybe a scolding for missing something obvious. Instead, the door shot open without a word said.

"Psychic lock," he explained. "You have to think the combination for the door to open."

"So it's like a number or word you have to remember?"

"No- well, some people do that, but that's boring. The TARDIS' door combinations are different sequences of thoughts, feelings, or memories."

"Oh, that's _brilliant!_" the human companion crowed delightedly. "What's this one?"

"I believe this one is crimson, eleven, delight, petrichor. Oh, petrichor is-"

"-the smell of dust after rain," Rose finished, getting a wide smile from her old friend.

"Good! Now, off we pop! We've got people to call!" Together, the two ran into the familiar corally hub. As the Doctor ran a circle around the console, remembering where all the buttons were, Rose's face melted into a grin of absolute pure bliss. She felt absolutely at home for the first time since she'd left the TARDIS to stay with John. Now more than ready to begin, she brought the overexcited Doctor back on topic.

"So," she asked, "what's so big and scary that _you _need backup?"

"_That _is a question for later," he replied less enthusiastically, his excited smile losing some of its glow temporarily. "But, we'd better get to actually collecting that backup!"

"Time to call in the troops!" she agreed jokingly. With that, the Doctor darted off to fall to his knees in front of a trapdoor, which he proceeded to throw open and hang the entire top half of his body into the space below so he could rummage through the miscellaneous junk. After a few seconds of flailing about, he pulled out two small objects. One looked to be an Earth cell phone from about 2010, and the other looked to her a bit like a button-less space phone. She watched as he punched a series of buttons on the older one and held it to his ear.

"Hello, Martha Jones," he began simply. Rose listened to his half of the conversation. "Or should I say, Martha Smith! My late congratulations! Yes, it's me… Long story, I'll explain later… Yes, actually, because this is much like the time in 1913 England with the fob watch and the Family... No! No, I'm okay. I could use your help though… Brilliant!... And what would that be?... Fine, he can come. Okay, see you in a mo!" Abruptly, he snapped the phone shut. "Martha Jones is on board," he declared.

"She was… the one from UNIT, right?" Rose clarified.

"Among other things, yes. Actually, she and Mickey are free agents now; they do pretty much whatever they want," the Doctor replied nostalgically, remembering when he'd seen them last.

"Wait, you called her Martha Smith. Are they married now?" Rose guessed, grinning.

"Yes they are! Honestly I had no idea for a while; I would have stopped by to congratulate them earlier!"

"Oh, that's lovely! I can see them together, definitely."

"You will. Mickey's tagging along; I couldn't turn down an extra pair of hands."

"Really?"

"No, he's staying home. Of course he's coming!" the Doctor answered with massive sarcasm. "Anyway, on to the next!" He picked up the… phone-y thing. Seeing where his old friend might not understand what it was, he explained, holding it up for her to see. "iPhone 5000S.2, military class. Nicked it from a cleric." The entire thing sounded crazy as usual, so she decided not to push the matter.

"So who're you calling on your high-tech space phone?" she asked. Not receiving a response for several seconds, she crept up behind him to try to read over his shoulder. He pretended not to notice her for a minute, but couldn't quite keep the smile off his face. Also, he had a good six inches on her, so if he shrugged his shoulder even a little, she couldn't see! After a good, solid minute of shrugging, tiptoes, gentle wrestling, and a few little laughs from both of them, he began to read aloud.

"River…" he narrated slowly. "Run into…. tricky spot…. could… use… help. Send…. coordinates. I'll pick… you up." A final tap resulted in an interesting swooshing noise, which the Doctor declared to mean that the message had been sent. He leaned back against the console and waited. Rose couldn't help but notice that he instinctively neatened himself up, tugging on his lapels and straightening his bowtie.

"What, you nervous?" his friend teased, noticing his sudden awkwardness.

"Honestly, I'm just afraid of what'll happen if I put the two of you in a room together," he chuckled nervously. "Rose Tyler meets River Song. For all I know, you two will immediately start… _blogging! _Either that or you'll kill each other… and/or me…" the Time Lord grimaced in anticipation. This got Rose laughing hysterically for a moment, because of his awkward use of social networking as if it were the most horrible thing known to man. She assured him that she would do her very best not to kill him, which seemed to reassure him only a little bit, as he still had that 'this could be trouble' look in his eyes.

A little ping from the communicator device signaled the reception of River's coordinates, which the Doctor took in before laying a hand on a strange lever-y thing. "Ready?" he asked eagerly. Rose got a tight hold on the console, knowing what happened when an excited Time Lord who barely knew how to fly was crossed with a TARDIS.

"Ready!" she declared joyfully, and the Doctor sent them whirling through time and space.

* * *

**More is to come! Please R&R for moral support!**

**Love, themagicoakleaf 3**


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